Nottingham company fined after explosion severely injures workers
Bio Dynamic, a Nottingham-based company that generates electricity from food waste through anaerobic digestion, has been fined more than £300,000 following an explosion that left two employees with life-altering injuries.
The incident, which took place in September 2020, involved two workers cutting and replacing pipework at the top of an 11-meter-high metal tank containing waste slurry.
Sparks from their grinder ignited flammable gases, causing a massive explosion. The blast launched the tank into the air, with CCTV footage showing it crashing back to the ground nine seconds later.
One of the employees, Tomasz Patek, was thrown from the mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) into the air, landing in a slurry around the tank.
He sustained severe injuries to his back, head and torso, requiring two months of hospitalisation. His injuries left him unable to work for over two years.
Robert Tyrko was thrown into the air and landed back in the MEWP basket. His leg was amputated after the incident, and he is still in a wheelchair while awaiting a prosthesis.
He also fractured his skull and has a piece of metal in his elbow, which continues to impact his daily life.
A joint investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency revealed that Bio Dynamic had failed to ensure the safety of its workers and others in the vicinity.
Investigators identified multiple failures in the company’s management system and numerous breaches of its environmental permit, which contributed to the explosion.
At Nottingham Crown Court on November 22 the company pleaded guilty to breaching several regulations, including Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, as well as provisions under the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Bio Dynamic was fined £304,500 and ordered to pay £229,988 in costs.
HSE inspector Richenda Dixon said: “It’s remarkable that Robert and Tomasz weren’t killed. This incident resulted from fundamental and multiple failings by the company to properly manage its health and safety risks. These included failing to ensure that the design, installation and use of the tanks were safe; failing to carry out risk assessments; failing to put in place a safe system of work; and failing to train and supervise employees.”
Senior Environmental crime officer Iain Regan said: “This was a lengthy and technically complex investigation by the Environment Agency and the HSE during which we found that the company’s attitude towards environmental compliance was largely cosmetic. Although the site had an environmental permit, the company was not complying with the conditions of the permit or with their management system and procedures.
“The site had unauthorised gaseous emissions points and undertook modifications to their process which were not risk assessed or notified to the Environment Agency. The company did not recognise or understand the impact that these changes had on the safety of the plant and failed to take action when warned, which could have prevented the incident. These factors, and a failure to implement permit-to-work procedures, including appropriate risk assessment, created all the necessary conditions on 20 September 2017 for the explosion which occurred.”
